about

projects


I am a New Zealand born artist, inventor and teacher based in Berlin, Germany. I've presented my papers and projects at many museums, international electronic-art events and conferences, including the Tate Modern, Transmediale, Ars Electronica and the Japan Media Arts Festival. My work has received several awards, ranging across technical excellence, artistic invention and interaction design.

I've given numerous workshops and master classes in game-design, artistic game-development, object-oriented programming for artists, UNIX/Linux, virtual architecture, interface design, augmented reality and open source development practices worldwide. I'm a long-time advocate of the use of free software in artistic production, distribution and education.

In 1998 I established the artistic game-development collective, Select Parks.

julian oliver

contact

this is an image to avoid spambots <-- This is an image. Eat that spambot!

The above address is the only way of contacting me; I don't have a Facebook, Twitter or MySpace profile and neither do I have a public telephone number.

I travel very frequently and so will do my best to get back in touch within a couple of weeks. If you don't hear from me in this time, try me again!

upcoming

15.04.10: Talk at Liwoli, Linz
23.04.10: Exhibition at MMX Gallery, Berlin
04.06.19: Lecture and panel presentation at TEDx Rotterdam.
07.05.10: Guest lecture at 'Rendering Speculation', Architectural Association, London.

now showing..



Back Buffer: The New Arena Paintings, Dundee.
levelHead at Space Invaders, Liverpool.
levelHead at The Ars Electronica Centre, Linz.

awards

First Prize, Jeux Vidéo et Attractions, Laval Virtual, 09.

Honorary Mention, Transmediale '04

New Zealand Open Source Award, 08

Honorary Mention, Prix Ars Electronica '08

Technical Innovation award, Indiecade '08

Jury Reccommended Work, Entertainment Division, Japan Media Arts Festival '08

exhibitions, talks, workshops

2010

The Artvertiser (at the Murcia stand), ARCO, Madrid

The New Arena Paintings (solo show), Hannah Maclure Centre, Dundee, Scotland

The Artvertiser at Transmediale 2010, Berlin

'The Not So Brief History of Sound Based Games', artist talk, A-MAZE Festival, Berlin

2009

levelHead at Space Invaders, FACT, Liverpool, U.K

levelHead at Over The Game, Zemos98, Seville, Spain

The Atocha 24 Insertions, HAMBRE (group show) Madrid

levelHead at TWEAKFEST, Zurich, Switzerland

levelHead, Award and exhibition, LAVAL VIRTUAL, Laval, France.

levelHead at Art Rock festival, St Brieuc, France

The Artvertiser workshop, Cartagena, Spain

Composite City, Paper presentation, See Festival, Wiesbaden, Germany

levelHead at Mois Multi, Quebec City, Canada.

levelHead at the Japan Media Art Festival, National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan

levelHead at the Ars Electronica Center, Linz, Austria (opening exhibition of new center).

2008

Trapped Rocket II at Dadamachinima Exhibition (curated by moddr.net), Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Fijuu2 at DING>>DONG, Liverpool, U.K.

levelHead at MAKEART, Poitiers, France.

levelHead at Cinekid, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Optical Illusion Art as Radical Interface: Paper presentation at Light, Space and Perception series, Medialab-Prado, Madrid, Spain.

levelHead at GameCity, Nottingham, U.K

Exhibition of 3 works and guest panelist at The Circle 08, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Cartofictions: Maps the Imaginary and Geo-strategic Engineering. Paper presentation, Zagreb, Croatia

levelHead at Split International Film Festival, Split, Croatia

levelHead at Ars Electronica (award and exhibition) O.K Centre, Linz, Austria

levelHead at FILE08, Sao Paulo, Brasil

levelHead at 'Future Past Cinema', Sonarmatica08, Sonar, Barcelona, Spain.

levelHead at <>TAG exhibition, The Hague, The Netherlands.

Augmented Reality Games workshop (3 days) and related talk. Mediamatic, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

levelHead at Feria de las Ciencias, Madrid, Spain.

levelHead at Homo Ludens Ludens, Laboral, Gijon, Spain (5 months exhibit).

Optical Illusion Art as Radical Interface: Paper presentation at Homo Ludens Ludens, Gijon, Spain.

Two weeks teaching at Inclusiva-net Madrid, Spain

Cartofictions: Maps the Imaginary and Geo-strategic Engineering. Paper presentation at Inclusiva-net Madrid, Spain

2007

Fijuu2 exhibited at 'Games:AV' London Games Festival, London, U.K

Fijuu2 exhibited at 'Kiblix', Maribor, Slovenia.

Unprepared Architecture (with Simone Jones) exhibited at 'TestBed', Nuit Blanche, Toronto, Canada.

Fijuu2 exhibited at 'Indiecade', E3 Game Expo, Santa Monica, America.

'Artistic Game Development: Tools, Techniques and Trends', Workshop and lecture Transistor 07, CIANT, Prague, Czech Republic.

'Introduction to Modding and Rapid Game Prototyping', 20 hour workshop at The Laboral, Gijon, Spain.

Exhibition of 'Unprepared Architecture' at 'Interactivos', MediaLabMadrid, Madrid, Spain. Collaboration wih Simone Jones.

Rapid Game Prototyping with Blender and Python, 40 hour intensive workshop given at the Technical University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Second Person Shooter (2 Player version), 'Gameworld' at the Laboral, Gijon, Spain

Fijuu2, 'Late at the Tate', Tate Britain, London, U.K

Exhibition of new work ioq3aPaint, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, America

Artist in Residence, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, America

Presentation of Commissioned piece Packet Garden, Arnolfini, Bristol, U.K

2006

ART+GAME, Brussels, Belgium. Gave 40 hour intensive on artistic game development using Python and Blender.

ART+GAME, Brussels, Belgium. Fijuu2 exhibited.

Bzoom06, Brno, Czech Republic. Fijuu2 exhibited.

'Gaming Realities', Mediaterra06, Athens, Greece. Keynote paper presentation and exhibition of Fijuu2.

GYOML, Folly, United Kingdon. Lecture and one day workshop on artistic game development using Blender.

tranISTor, CIANT, Prague, Czech Republic. Lecture and one day workshop on artistic game development using Blender.

'Digital Showcase 37' Austin Museum of Digital Art, Texas, America. Installation of 'Qthoth'.

Game/Play, HTTP Gallery, London, U.K. Second Person Shooter prototype on exhbition. Curated by Furtherfield.

CyberSonica06, London, UK. 2 Week installation of commissioned work 'Fijuu2'.

Lovebytes2006, Sheffield, UK. 4 week installation of bot driven piece 'Q3APD'.

Lovebytes2006, Sheffield, UK. Workshop - Introduction to Blender.

AVFestival 06, Middlesborough, UK. Workshop - 30hour, 5day intensive on game development.

Show Some Emotion, CodeWorks, MiddlesBorough, UK. Presentation on topic of "Frustration and Relief in the Gaming Experience"

2005

International Documentary Film Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Paper on Documentary and Political Games.

Mladinski Center, Krsko, Slovenia. Fijuu presentation and performance

Artist in Residence, Technical University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Technical University of Copenhagen, Denmark. 1month, 120hour workshop intensive on open-source game development.

Artist in Residence, Access Space, Sheffield, UK.

Access Space, Sheffield, UK. Introduction to Blender.

Transmediale, Berlin, Germany. Honourary Mention Award for piece 'Fijuu'.

D.I.G.R.A, Vancouver, Canada Installation of EFW at 'P.O.V' exhibition.

2004

PIKSEL2004, Bergen, Norway. Performance and presentation of game based performance system, 'fijuu'

ALT-CTRL, California, America. Installation of game based performance system, 'fijuu'

SAGASNET, Munich, Germany. Paper on Documentary Games.

Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival, Switzerland. Presentation of computer graphic technology developed in 'fijuu'

Sonar2004, Barcelona, Spain. Paper and Concert performance of game based performance system, 'fijuu'

International Film Festival Rotterdam Presentation and exhibition of EFW project.

Two week intensive workshop in Blender and Pure Data, 'Nadine', Belgium.

2003

TRANSFIGURE, Melbourne, Australia. Installation of Commissioned game 'ACMIPARK'

D.I.G.R.A,Utrecht. Presentation of ACMI Commissioned work, 'acmipark' at DIGRA Conference.

Art Futura, Barcelona Spain. Guest Panelist and Paper Presentation in 'Pixel City'.

re:Play, Cape Town, South Africa. Presentation of EFW project. Curated by Adam Hyde and Honor Harger.

Plaything, Sydney. Presentation of game-based performance engine, 'Qthoth' at dLux Media Arts.

Open Source Game Development Symposium, Copenhagen. Paper presentation and panelist.

Next Five Minutes, Amsterdam. Paper presentation and panelist for the EFW project.

user_mode, Tate Modern London. Paper, panel and survey of work by selectparks.

Digital Arts and Culture Conference, Melbourne. Paper presentation, 'D.I.E'.

Synaesthesia World Tour. 13 performances of game-driven electro-acoustics, EU, US, Japan.

L'oading, Sicily, Italy. – exhibition of game 'Qthoth', Curated by Valentina Tanni.

2002

<ALT> Digital Media, American Museum of The Moving Image, New York, USA. Exhibition of 'Qthoth'

Trigger, eSpace, Melbourne. Curated by Rebecca Cannon.

Variable Resistance, SFMOMA, San Francisco, USA. Exhbition of 'Fast Core Routines'

P~lot, tx00m (FOAM) presentations and workshops, Groznjan [Croatia], Amsterdam, Brussels.

The Similar Eye, CGDC Tampere, Finland. Paper presentation of 'The Similar Eye'

2001

Re:Con, Zagreb. Game 'Qthoth' HDLU Gallery, curated by Honor Harger, Zagreb, Croatia.

Bus Gallery, Melbourne. Glitch Machinima 'Max Miptex', collaboration with Chad Chatterton. Game-hack VJ and composition project.

WAVEFORM, Australian Computer Music Association WAVEFORM 2001, UNWS. 6 Channel dispersion of 'Fast Core Routines'

Impermanent Audio, Sydney. Perfomance of 'Fast Core Routines'.

Applications for Computer Gaming Engines in Architecture and The Fine Arts Interactive Information Institute, R.M.I.T, Melbourne. Paper Presentation.

COSIGN2001, CWI, Amsterdam. Paper presentation of 'Polygon Destinies'

2000

Harmonia, West Space Gallery, Melbourne. Collaboration with Chad Chatterton, curated by Brett Jones and Ryszard Dabek

Final Fantasies, 200 Gertrude Street Gallery, Melbourne. Group Show curated by Chad Chatterton,

PCAS/ACAS Conference, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Presentation of game design research paper 'Polygon Destinies: Body, Self and Sense of Place'

Sonic Residues, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. Presentation of audio dispersion piece, 'Fieldwork'

Emulations, Westspace, Melbourne. Performance and CD release of new work,

1999

Plant Syntax, Melbourne. Performance and CD release of work, Topographical Amnesia.

Null Point Parallax, Melbourne - with Simon Giddings and Jason Paterson, Writings on the Body, George Patton Gallery, Melbourne.

Parler2000 Galerie Inc, Melbourne. 'Observation Deck' Curated by Rachael Tempest,

1998

Hard Listening Series, The Musicians Club, Melbourne. Performance of 'Cardiometronome'.

The Project Space, Melbourne. Presentation of Quictime VR 'Inexplore' (developed with Evan Harridge)

Plant Syntax, Melbourne., presentation of work at 'Amperecights'.

Adelaide Festival, Adelaide. 'Foldback' .

1997

Artspace - Auckland, NZ. 'BPM' at series Relay,

The Performance Space, Sydney. 'BPM [transduced]' at OPEN, Curated Julianne Pierce (music made with heart beats of four performers - amplified stethoscopes and oscilloscope)

1996

Artspace, Auckland, NZ. 'Sermon' at series Relay,

Artspace, Auckland, NZ. 'Scarab' at series Relay,

Artspace, Auckland, NZ. 'Ping Body' with Stelarc,

Artspace, Auckland, NZ. 'Air to Live' at series Relay,

The Artvertiser 2008 - 2010

Augmented Reality Product Replacement of billboard advertisements. This project was awarded funding from Intermediae, Madrid, Spain

levelHead 2007-2008

Augmented Reality spatial-memory game and tangible interface prototype.

Packet Garden 2006

Information visualisation project where the user can grow a unique garden world as a graph of their daily network traffic. This project was the first digital art commission by Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol.

Insertions series 2009

Video works exploring the augmentation of physical sites.

Fijuu2 2006

3D audio/visual performance engine. This project was commissioned by Cybersonica for their 2006 edition.

Escape from Woomera 2002-2003

A game-based project that sought to draw a first-person awareness to the inhumane treatment of 'illegal immigrants' in Australian detention centers. This project received federal arts funding.

Trapped Rocket II 2006, 2008

Futility and expectation in Euclidean (military) space. A simulation of a guided missile is trapped in a prison of views.

ioq3aPaint 2003-2007

Abstract expressionism with Quake3 Arena

q3apd (Installation and Tool) 2003/2006

Make music with Quake 3 Arena

qthoth 1998-1999

A game based performance engine/installation for the half-life game engine.

acmipark 2001-2003

A site-specific, multiplayer, game-based re-imagining of the Australian Center of the Moving Image. This project was commissioned by the ACMI.

max miptex 2001

Experimental 'glitch' machinima.

2ndPS2 2007

The subjectivity of a first-person duel has been reversed: each player is looking through the eyes of their opponent. Players must work together to navigate each others view in combat.

Select Parks 1998

Select parks is an online archive of divergent and artistic game-development practices. it was established in 1998 and has since evolved into a weblog and resource center for students, artists, historians and researchers.

Anagram Series 2006 ongoing

This is a growing selection of slowly evolving software works, utilising a 3D engine, designed for playback on very large screens. On this page are video documentation of the work.

selected papers

Cartofictions: Maps the Imaginary and GeoSocial Engineering 2008

Video documentation. Slides here.

Optical Illusion Art as Radical Interface 2008

Matter and Memory in 3D Games 2006

The Game is Not the Medium 2006

Proxy Life and Public Space in the MMORPG 2004

The Production of Place in the Digital Role Playing Game 2000

press

Articles about my work, or work I've made with others, have appeared in many news channels. Among them are The BBC (UK), The Age (AU), El Pais (ES), Liberation (FR), The New York Times (US), La Vanguardia (ES), The Guardian Online (UK), Cosmopolitan (US) and several television stations worldwide.

Please contact me regarding interviews or aquiring media for use in articles.
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